Doctor Who Series 11B Episode 1 - Stop the Clock
by Ratin8tor
Summary: A group of thieves with Time War technology have been going on a crime spree thanks to being able to stop time, but things go awry when the TARDIS accidentally crashes into them. Now the Doctor and friends have to find the thieves, fix the stolen tech and reset time before everything remains frozen... forever.
1. Episode 1

"You ready boys?" asked the leader of the gang. His two accomplices nodded. The man nodded back, pressed a button on the device in his hand, and calmly walked into the bank. The three of them leisurely made their way over the counter, helping themselves to the cash found in the tills. One of the three popped into the vault, grabbing fistfuls of money and stuffing it into the bag with no real urgency. Satisfied with their haul the leader nodded, the other two men following him out of the door.

On the way out one of the men swatted away a fly, the insect hanging motionless in the air, before holding up his hand to shield himself from the raindrops suspended around them. The men had little to fear.

Crime was incredibly easy when you possessed the ability to stop time, after all.

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Doctor Who

Stop the Clock

Part 1

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"'ere, what's happening with the TARDIS Doc?" Graham asked, holding his hands over his ears. All throughout the TARDIS an awful screeching sound could be heard, as if the traditional groaning had been turned up to eleven.

"The TARDIS doesn't want to land," said the Doctor, spread-eagled over the console so she could press six different buttons at once.

"Why don't we just go somewhere else then?" Ryan yelled.

"We need to land here," said the Doctor. "TARDIS needs a recharge, and Cardiff is the perfect place to do it."

"Are you saying we're almost out of fuel?" asked Yaz, but no one could hear her as the din grew louder, the TARDIS shaking even more.

"Oh come on," said the Doctor, getting annoyed, grabbing one lever and throwing her entire weight behind it. There was an almighty rumble, and then silence.

Everyone stood, waiting for the next catastrophe, but an eerie calm echoed through the TARDIS.

"Right then," said the Doctor, beaming. "Couple of hours and she'll be good to go. Shall we have a look around?"

"Hang on, you said Cardiff?" said Graham incredulously. "I thought you'd need to go somewhere more exotic to recharge the TARDIS."

"Cardiff is very exotic," said the Doctor. "Nowhere else in the universe like Cardiff. Believe me, I've looked. Almost felt like my life revolved around it a few regenerations ago."

"Err, Doctor," said Ryan, standing by the door, looking out at the scene in front of him. "I don't think something's right."

"Don't you start with this Cardiff bashing," said the Doctor, grabbing her coat and running to the door, before pausing.

"Ah," she said. "Well, yes. This is certainly something different, isn't it?"

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"Why hasn't time restarted yet?" asked one of the three men, the most nervous of the three.

"Oh don't you worry your head about it," said the leader, watching the smoke from his cigarette slowly freeze in the air as it drifted your head about it. "I'm sure it'll fix itself in a little while. I mean it's not like this can go on forever."

"What if it does though?" asked the second of the three men, probably the smartest out of all of them.

"Quit your whining," said the leader in annoyance. "I told ya, everything will go back to normal in a bit. We just need to wait here for a bit so no one catches us."

"If you say so boss," said one of the men, throwing a glance at the other one. Despite what the boss said this wasn't a turn of events either of them were happy with. Still, the boss hadn't let them down before. Surely things would be alright soon enough.

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"This is so weird," said Ryan, popping rain drops out of the air. "How can time be frozen like this?"

"I'm not sure," said the Doctor. "I don't like it at all. The ability to freeze time like this, it requires powerful technology far beyond your race."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," said Graham, watching a fly hang in the air.

"This is Time Lord technology," replied the Doctor. "Very sophisticated technology at that. What's it doing in Cardiff in 2019?"

"Time Lord?" asked Yaz.

"My people," said the Doctor, getting out a yo-yo and playing with it.

"You've never mentioned them before," said Ryan, but the Doctor ignored him, instead focusing on the toy. She let it bounce up and down in front of her, before letting it fly forwards in front of her. Sure enough, after a moment the yo-yo froze, as if being held up by an invisible string.

"Isn't that interesting?" said the Doctor, peering at the yo-yo, slowly moving her hand out. As predicted, the moment her hand touched it it suddenly shot forward, only to stop again.

"Right fam," she said, turning to the three. "You know how I normally tell you not to touch stuff for your own safety, and you inevitably ignore me and end up being swallowed by a giant carnivorous plant?"

"That was one time!" replied Ryan in protest.

"This time I need you to actually listen to me," said the Doctor, not heeding Ryan. "Right now time is passing by incredibly slowly, so slow that it looks like it's standing still. But our personal time streams are still going as normal. In other words, we're going incredibly fast compared to everything else. So whatever do, don't touch anyone."

"Why not?" asked Yaz.

"Imagine being hit by something going the speed of a rocket," said the Doctor. "Only the thing hitting you is someone's finger. You could cause all sorts of damage as their body suddenly accelerates and decelerates at the same time."

"Don't touch anyone, gotcha," said Graham. "What about non-living things?"

"In theory they should be okay," said the Doctor. "I mean you'll have to be careful not to start any fires or anything. But what we really need to do is figure out whose causing this and how to get them to un-cause it."

"Doctor?" asked Yaz.

"What is it Yaz?"

"This bank," said Yaz. "The door's open."

"Yeah, doors do that," said Ryan sarcastically.

"Yeah, I know," said Yaz. "But there's no one around to open it. Surely if this door had just been open someone would be standing next to it?"

"Yaz you're a genius!" said the Doctor excitedly. "Glad to see you paid attention during cop training. Yes, whoever opened the door must have done so when time was frozen. Which means that they must be responsible for this."

"Well that'd explain the gaps in the rain," continued Yaz, nodding to an absence of rain drops.

"Oh I love you guys," said the Doctor. "Normally I'd have to make a fancy gizmo to do all of this. Right, so, we follow the trail and eventually we should be able to find whose behind all this."

"And then what?" asked Ryan.

"Not sure," admitted the Doctor. "It'll probably make more sense when I work out what's going on. Come on!"

With that the Doctor set off down the pathway of missing raindrops, excitedly looking around at the frozen world she found herself in. Her companions followed, likewise enjoying the unusual spectacle. It certainly wasn't something you see every day.

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"Time's still not come back boss," said one of the group, pacing nervously.

"Oh will you calm down," said the leader frustratedly, pacing around their hideout His unhealthy habit of smoking when stressed had backfired considerably, as the smoke failed to go far from where he was sitting, instead hanging around his head as a toxic cloud. He'd quickly filled his favourite areas with smoke, and was now looking for somewhere more comfortable to sit.

The smartest one of the three could tell that the boss was nervous, but that upsetting the boss was probably the worst thing to do at the moment. Instead he just continued to count the money.

"What happens if time never comes back?" asked the young one, wringing his hands.

"Well it would certainly be a problem for the universe," said an unfamiliar voice. All three crooks shot up in shock as they saw a woman standing there, beaming away. Behind her three other people milled around awkwardly.

Without a moment's hesitation all three of them had their guns out and pointed at the intruders.

"Who are you?" barked the leader. "And what are you doing here?"

"Well I'm the Doctor," said the lead woman. "This is Yaz, Ryan, Graham, and we were going to spend a relaxing afternoon seeing the sights of Cardiff but, well, this is much more interesting."

"Why aren't you frozen?" asked the smart one.

"Oh I like you," said the Doctor. "You're asking the sensible questions. But I feel like it's more important that I know why you're not frozen so that I can fix this mess."

"How did you get here?" the smart one said as a follow-up.

"In a police box," said Ryan without thinking it.

"Police?" said the nervous one, fingers trembling. Before any of them could react the man fired his gun, the bullets on a collision course right at the Doctor and her companions!


	2. Episode 2

Doctor Who

Stop the Clock

Part 2

Brad 'Birdie' Edwards was a simple man with a relatively simple life. He knew exactly what he was destined to be when he grew up.

As such, it was no surprise when he was in juvenile detention for attempting to steal cars at fourteen, nor when he kept making repeat appearances to the point where it became a second home. Better than his actual home, at any rate.

It was there that Brad took on the name 'Birdie', a wonderful play on the fact that he was just a jailbird. It was suppose to be an insult, thrown at him by jailers who cared more about a paycheck than their duty of care. But Brad kept it, much like the gangsters he had seen in the films, and made it his own.

He was never the most successful of criminals. Any gains he made were quickly lost, and he found himself going in and out of jail the same way an overly-spoilt child might pay a visit to the sweet shop.

It was while he was on the inside that he met Arthur Leverton, a man who had made a somewhat successful career out of his criminal activities, but had recently been caught in a heist with men he realized were certainly not going to be happy to see him when he got out.

Leverton took Birdie under his wing, teaching the young boy everything he knew. Birdie has a smart head on his shoulders, and once they were free started to take the lead when it came to undertaking the crimes, with Leverton being the mastermind behind them.

It was during this that the two of them recruited a nervous young man, one Stanley Hopkins, who had learned everything there was about being a criminal from American movies and was thus entirely unsuited for the life ahead of them. But the three of them formed a somewhat successful gang of sorts, stealing from the convenient and pocketing the loot. They were never destined to be anything more than a footnote of a footnote in the book of history.

That was until Birdie found a strange device sitting in his house one day. He had no idea where it had come from, or who could have possibly put it there. Career criminals tend to be very thorough when it came to home security after all.

Those questions were quickly ignored in favour of more pressing questions, namely 'why was everything around him frozen' and 'how could he use this in his favour'. A few quick experiments revealed that yes, time was indeed frozen, and that no one seemed to notice him during this state. A few accidents and mishaps later and Birdie quickly realized the gift that had been given to him.

As such, he recruited Leverton and Hopkins into his unit, and very quickly they found themselves swimming in dough.

The device was incredibly simplistic, a literal stop-start button embedded into a strange cube covered in markings, some of which reminded Birdie of the inside of a clock. But he wasn't going to look this gift horse in the mouth.

He had only had it for a week, and already they were doing fantastic... that was, until things went horribly wrong. Birdie had tested the machine, he knew what was suppose to happen, and the fact that time hadn't resumed no matter how many times he had pressed the buttons worried him greatly.

Things were further complicated when a group of strangers suddenly entered their hideout, as if they owned the place. A notion quickly dissuaded the moment Hopkins fired on them. Like it or not, it appeared to Birdie that the three of them had officially upgraded to murder.

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The bullets streaked through the air faster than the speed of sound, which would have been fatally tragic for the Doctor and her friends if they were not moving so much faster than that. Carefully the four of them moved out of the way of the bullets slowly heading towards where they were moments ago, gently twisting in the air.

Ryan reached out to touch one, but the Doctor quickly snatched his hand back.

"They're still got their momentum, remember?" said the Doctor. "And if you were to get too close you might short out the time differentiation... Ah. Yes, that makes sense, doesn't it."

"Put your gun down Hopkins," said Birdie angrily. "Before you do anything stupid."

"Yes Birdie," said Hopkins sheepishly. "Any idea what's going on Leverton?"

"I'm as lost as you are kid," said the older man, eyeing the new people suspiciously.

"Well if you're quite finished waving your toys around," said the Doctor, spying the object sitting on the desk in front of Leverton. "What do we have here?"

She picked up the cube, looking it over from every angle, before scanning it with her sonic.

"Yep, definitely Time Lord tech," she said, putting her sonic back into her pocket and tossing the cube up and down in one hand. "Time War as well, from the feel of it. Clearly it must be the cause, it's not being affected by the time dilation like everything else. What's a piece of Time War tech doing in Cardiff? You," she said, spinning round and pointing an accusatory finger at Birdie. "Where did you get this?"

"I dunno," said Birdie. "It just appeared in my house one day. I don't know anything, I swear."

"No, I don't suppose you do," said the Doctor, scanning the man's face. "Still, you should have turned this over to the proper authorities."

"I ain't giving it to the pigs," sneered Birdie.

"Oi!" said Yaz, annoyed.

"Too many questions," said the Doctor, looking around. "And what I need right now is answers."

"I presume we're taking it back to the TARDIS?" Graham asked in concern.

"You read my mind," said the Doctor. "You lot can just wait here."

"Oh no you don't," said Leverton, taking a step forward. He tried to follow through with his other foot, but couldn't. He tugged at his leg in desperation, but his foot seemed stuck to the ground.

"Why can't I move?" asked Leverton in concern.

"The effect must be wearing off," said the Doctor. "This device wasn't designed to stay on for long, its starting to lose its charge."

"What do we do?" asked Ryan.

"Just keep moving," said the Doctor. "Kinetic energy should stop us from being frozen in place."

"What about me?" asked Leverton in concern.

"Oh you'll be fine," said the Doctor. "From your perspective everything will just return to normal speed... Well, presuming I can fix this. Don't worry, the cops will make sure you're okay."

"You what?" asked Birdie. "I'm not letting you call the cops."

"It'll be irrelevant if I don't get time restarted," said the Doctor, but before she could continue, Birdie suddenly made a lunge at her. The Doctor stumbled back in shock, the cube slipping from her grasp. She made a desperate grab at it, but it bounced off her fingertips, floating through the air.

As if by some cruel twist of fate the cube ended up right next to one of the bullets, close enough that a spark of electricity jumped between the device and the projectile. The bullet whizzed forward, slamming into the wall, while the cube landed on the ground, cracked.

"No no no no no!" the Doctor said urgently, rushing over to the cube and picking it up.

"What?" asked everyone, concerned.

"It got shorted out," said the Doctor. "Like dropping an electrical appliance into water. It's completely busted."

"So what does that mean?" asked Ryan.

"It means that if I don't get it charged then the lack of time is going to hit all of us," said the Doctor. "And there'll never be another moment of time again!"


	3. Episode 3

Doctor Who

Stop the Clock

Part 3

"It's not my fault!" Birdie said desperately, gesturing at the broken cube that he had been using to stop and start time. The Doctor just glared at him as she waved her sonic screwdriver over it.

"What do we do?" asked Yaz, concerned.

"What about me?" asked Leverton more urgently. The group turned to see the man strangely contorted, parts of his body twisted at awkward angles.

"One thing at a time,"said the Doctor, turning the cube around in her hands.

"Why are you all blurry?" Leverton continued, sounding as if he was slurring his words. "Why is it going dark?" His face, a portrait of fear, slowly stopped twitching, before the man was frozen in place, one foot in the air, one arm pulling at his leg, another waved above him. He looked like an absurd work of art.

"What's happened to him?" Hopkins asked in concern.

"He's run out of charge," the Doctor said. "He's entered normal time, if it existed. I told you, weren't you listening to me." The Doctor suddenly looked up in horror.

"Yaz!" she said urgently. "Ryan! Graham! Whatever you do, don't stop moving."

"Aye?" asked Graham, confused.

"As long as we keep moving we should be able to hold off the effects for a short while," said the Doctor, suddenly jumping up and down on her feet. "We're like batteries with a little juice left. Just keep moving."

With that she dashed outside, her companions following. Birdie and Hopkins took one look at their comrade, before deciding that there was no honour among thieves, and they had far bigger things to be concerned about. Hopkins knew one thing though. If they somehow got out of this he would go right back on the straight and narrow, just like his mum wanted.

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"Where are we going?" asked Ryan, as they ran behind the Doctor.

"Back to the TARDIS," said the Doctor.

"Do you have any idea where it is?" Ryan asked. The Doctor stopped, concerned, bouncing from one foot to another. Their walk to the hideout had admittedly taken quite a while, and they had gotten lost a few times trying to figure out where the trail exactly led, resorting to using the sonic as a tracker at some points.

"Knew there was something I was missing," she said, taking a look around. "You," she said, turning to Birdie. "How do we get back to Roald Dahl plaza?"

"Give me the device," said Birdie, holding out his hand.

"Didn't you hear the Doc?" asked Graham. "She said it was broken and it needed fixing."

"You're going to rat us out to the cops," said Birdie. "That's my get out of jail free card."

"I'm the police," said Yaz. "And you're lucky I don't have my handcuffs on me. But this isn't the time or the place."

"Quite right Yaz," said the Doctor. "How about you?" she asked, turning to Hopkins.

"Well..." said Hopkins slowly, his eyes darting to a fuming Birdie.

"Going to need you to decide quickly," said the Doctor. "We don't have a lot of time. Literally, in this case."

"It's this way," Hopkins said meekly.

"Traitor," said Birdie angrily, taking a swing at Hopkins, only to find his blow slowly travelling through the air. He looked at his fist, perplexed, before using his other hand to yank it down.

"Don't stop moving!" said the Doctor urgently. Her companions blinked, before running on the spot like her.

"This way," said Hopkins, leading the charge. Everyone followed him, Birdie looking sourly at all of them.

"What caused this anyway?" asked Yaz, as she jogged alongside the Doctor. "Was it the TARDIS?"

"It would explain why she didn't want to land here," agreed the Doctor. "Her landing in a place with no time would be like you lot arriving somewhere with no air. Oh my poor dear, she must be struggling terribly at the moment. But if I hook up the cube to the energy from the rift it should be enough to jump start time."

"Should be?" Yaz asked, concerned.

"Time Lord technology got a little... unreliable, near the end of the Time War," admitted the Doctor.

"Time War?" asked Yaz.

"Never you mind," said the Doctor, instead focusing on where Hopkins was leading them.

"Who are you lot anyway?" asked Birdie, as he jogged behind the Doctor.

"Just travellers," said Graham. "You know, if there was going to be this much running, I'd have stayed home in Sheffield."

"Why did you use the cube thing to rob places?" asked Ryan. "You could have done so much good with it?"

"Yeah, well, world's never done any good for me," sneered Birdie. "Why should I go round returning the favour?"

"Not everything in life is about you mate," said Graham. "Maybe if you thought about others we wouldn't be in this mess."

"Oh spare me your sappy talk granddad," spat Birdie. "You sound like my parole officer."

"He's got a point you know," said Ryan.

"Right, that's it," said Birdie angrily, but he never got a chance to finish his threat. His untied shoelace took this exact moment to trip him up, both figuratively and literally. He flew through the air, landing hard on the pavement. Graham and Ryan paused, looking back at him, debating to help.

Birdie snarled and pushed himself up... only to find his feet floating in the air, having been caught by the freezing effect. His arms flailed wildly before they too froze in the air. Brad 'Birdie' Edwards hung in the air, gravity clearly taking time off from affecting him.

Ryan and Graham stopped and looked at him in concern, debating whether to tell the Doctor.

"Come on!" she said urgently, Ryan and Graham snapping round to see her urgently gesturing to them. Both men started back up, but for Graham it was as if he was running through water. Water that was rapidly becoming ice.

Ryan had more luck, making a bit more distance, before realizing his grandfather wasn't next to him. He turned to see the old man slow down, as if he was a wind-up toy that had run out of charge.

"Doctor!" Ryan said urgently, running back to help Graham out.

"Don't touch him!" said the Doctor urgently, turning back round and running to help. "He's gone back to normal time. Touch him at this speed and you might kill him."

"We can't just leave him," said Ryan.

"Ryan, I know it's hard, but he'll be fine once time gets back to normal."

"No he won't," said Yaz, concern in her voice.

"Yes he will," the Doctor replied.

"No, he really won't," said Yaz, pointing to the car directly in front of Graham. In their haste the group had ignored the fact that there were cars all around them, all of which would be travelling at normal speed if time had been normal.

Speeds that Graham was now in sync with, while standing directly in front of one. The four remaining members looked at each other, it being clear what was about to happen: The moment time restarted Graham was going to be hit by the oncoming vehicle. But without being able to touch him, there was no way to move him to safety. For all intents and purposes, Graham was roadkill waiting to happen. And there was nothing they could do about it.


	4. Episode 4

Doctor Who

Stop the Clock

Part 4

"Doctor, do something!" said Ryan urgently.

"I'm thinking," the Doctor said, still making sure to keep moving so that the slowdown effect that had reached her friend didn't reach her also. But even she was struggling against the encroaching freeze, it slowly sapping the energy out of her.

"Right," she said. "Yaz, Ryan, you stay here and figure out some way of making sure Graham survives being hit by a car. Hopkins, you and me will go back to my ship and fix this mess."

"But if time restarts it'll kill him," said Ryan.

"And if time doesn't restart then there'll be nothing," replied the Doctor. "I'm sorry, but time is more important. I trust you two though. Look around you. Use your head. Come on Hopkins! And don't stop moving!"

The Doctor took off, Hopkins glancing at the two before leading the way.

"Okay, so what do we do?" Ryan asked, looking at Yaz for answers. Yaz spun around, looking for some herself. Her eyes fell onto a store.

"I think I might have an idea," she said. Ryan followed her gaze, and let out a small smile. It was certainly an idea.

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"How long have you been using this device?" the Doctor asked, as she and Hopkins kept up the pace.

"About a week," said Hopkins. "At first it was awesome, but when it seemed like time wasn't coming back..."

"Yeah that's my fault," said the Doctor. "My arrival here accidentally over-loaded the machine a bit and got it stuck. But logically as long as the cube and the TARDIS are next to each other it should be enough."

"I didn't want this to happen," said Hopkins, desperate to catch his breath. "Blimey I haven't run this much since P.E. class."

"Keep it up Hopkins," said the Doctor brightly. "It can't be that much further."

"It should just be over there," said Hopkins, as they turned the corner. Sure enough the TARDIS was sitting exactly where the Doctor parked it... but the strange black hole of light surrounding it.

"What's that?" Hopkins asked, slowing down the pace in concern.

"The TARDIS is attempting to draw energy from the rift," said the Doctor. "It's having a terrible effect on the space time around it. If we're not careful it might cause a black hole that swallows the entire planet."

"Wait what?" said Hopkins.

"Oh you won't even notice," said the Doctor. "It'll be over too quick."

"I don't like this," said Hopkins, slowing down to a stop.

"Hopkins!" the Doctor said urgently, but it was too late. She could see the young man slowly freeze up, as he struggled to push against the time waves crashing upon him. The Doctor shook her head and threw herself back into the breach, pushing forward with all her might. But even as a Time Lady she was struggling to get through the thickness that was the frozen time. It would take all her strength to push through it, and even then, there was no guarantee it would work.

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"Are you sure this is going to work?" Ryan asked, slightly sceptical.

"Do you have a better idea?" asked Yaz, as they moved another mattress into place. Ryan was forced to admit that he didn't. Like it or not it was the best idea they had.

He thanked his lucky stars that they'd ended up right next to a furniture store, one that sold mattresses no less. It was back breaking work, but piece by piece, item by item, they had slowly assembled a rough crash mat of sorts. Cushions and mattresses piled the road behind Graham, creating a nest for him to fall into.

The next goal had been to stop the car. Carefully Yaz had opened the door and leant over, pulling the handbrake on and pushing the car into neutral. It wouldn't do a lot, but something was better was nothing. Fortunately there were no other cars on the road, so hopefully the damage would be minimized. But there was only so much they could do.

The last step was to pile as many mattresses between Graham and the car as they could. Again, it wasn't perfect, but it might protect him enough that they could get him to a hospital in time.

The two of them stepped back, panting heavy. It was hard to move now, as they sluggishly got themselves off the street and onto the pavement to admire their handiwork. It was a mess, but it might be just enough to work. Yaz was the first of the two to freeze, her touching the car having done the most damage at her losing her momentum. Ryan tried to keep moving as she became a statue, his fear allowing him to hop from foot to foot. He hoped his grandfather would survive what was about to happen.

But, despite his best efforts, he too felt his body slow down, the world around him getting blurry and dark. The last thing he saw was the car very slowly speeding up, heading right to the man who cared about him more than anything else in the world.

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The Doctor was close, far closer than she honestly expected to get. But to call what she was doing 'wading through quicksand' was far too generous. It was solidifying by the moment, and the Doctor felt as if she needed to punch her way through it.

She spared a thought for her companions, wonder if they'd figured out a way to save Graham. The thought of them pushed her on as she took another step, willing herself forward. But despite her best efforts the TARDIS didn't look like it was getting any closer.

As she put the foot down she knew she wasn't going to get it up again. She could feel the solidification creeping up her leg, making quick work of her knees. As such she called upon one of her previous regeneration's particular set of skills.

With a bowl that would make the English cricket team proud she let the cube soar through the air, straight and true towards the TARDIS. But at this close range even it was becoming effected by the time dilation, the cube becoming ever slower.

The Doctor hoped that it'd be enough, that somehow it would make it, as everything around her went dark...

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In a timeless world there was a child, who had control of such a domain. Curiously they looked around at the situation at hand. There was its father, flailing in mid-air. There was its home, currently warping and creaking. And there was a cube, its own creation, just hanging in the void.

The child walked over to it, examining it closely. It was certainly one of theirs, there was no mistake about that.

The child looked between the three objects in front of it, puzzled. Still, it was clear what its father wanted to do. It reached out an ethereal hand, gently tapping the cube so it continued its journey towards the TARDIS. Electricity shot out from the TARDIS like tendrils, ensnaring the cube. Soon the sparks grew brighter, blinding the world.

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Leverton stumbled forward, looking around in confusion. Everyone was here a moment ago, but now they'd disappeared before his eyes. He shook his head, grabbed as much loot as he could, and made a run for it before anyone had a chance to turn him in.

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Birdie hit the ground hard, the wind knocked out of him. Groggily he got to his feet and looked around, seeing three of the nuisances that got him into this mess. Sense prevailed however, and he decided that it was better to cut his losses and run.

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Hopkins took a step forward, only to see the blue box was just a blue box. Whatever strange thing had been happening earlier was gone, as if it was all a dream. In front of him the Doctor got off the ground, brushing off her jacket, before suddenly turning around and bolting back towards him. Before he could say anything she shot past him and disappeared around the corner.

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Graham looked up at the cloudy sky above him, trying to work out what had happened. One moment he was running, and next thing he knew he was in a literal mountain of pillows and mattresses. In front of him was a car that had seemingly stopped himself, and although he had technically driven into him, the padding from the mattresses had stopped the worst of the blow.

As he struggled to untangle himself he was suddenly bowled over by Ryan and Yaz leaping to hug him. He winced slightly, battered from the experience, but clearly alive. Judging from how his friends were acting, it seemed pretty lucky that he was as well.

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"So the thieves got away?" asked Graham, as the four of them left the hospital after Graham's check-up.

"I put in a word with the police," said the Doctor. "Did I tell you I was an amazing sketch artist? They'll pay for their misdeeds. Quick thinking, you two," she added, beaming at Yaz and Ryan.

"It was Yaz's idea," said Ryan, causing Yaz to blush slightly.

"So what happened with the cube?" Yaz asked as they walked through Cardiff.

"Well as soon as it got into contact with the TARDIS it reset itself, and by extension, the time around it before it spread too far," said the Doctor. "Although the Earth is now forty-two minutes behind the rest of the universe. Maybe that's why I always struggle when it comes to landing here."

"But where did the cube come from?" asked Ryan.

"And more importantly, how did it reach the TARDIS," said the Doctor. "I didn't throw it with enough force, and yet somehow it made it."

"Well I don't know about you," said Graham. "But I fancy some chips. My treat." His friends beamed, all current questions gone from their mind.

As they walked away, chatting and laughing, none of them noticed the child in the alleyway, watching them closely. Before it suddenly disappeared, as if it was never there at all.


	5. Next Time

Next time on Doctor Who: The P'Ting Dilemma

The Doctor and co arrive on a seemingly desolate moon base, only to come face to face with a P'Ting literally eating the roof above their head. Can the Doctor and her friends escape from the base before it is compromised beyond repair? What are the strange scientists hiding? And what is the origin of the P'Ting?

Read Part 1 now: s/13201085/1/Doctor-Who-Season-11B-Episode-2-The-P-Ting-Dilemma


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